UTILIZING MOBILE DEVICE FUNCTIONALITY FROM REMOTE COMPUTERS

• US 20090203402A1
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jafry, Syed Mansoor, Aftab, Omar
• Granted Patent: US 8,081,963 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/557
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/08 specially adapted for terminal emulation, e.g. Telnet
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for utilizing mobile device information and functionality from separate computing devices. A synchronization operation is performed to update a data store with communication information from a mobile device. The synchronization operation is performed wirelessly with the mobile device. A user of a separate computing device can access the communication information stored in the data store separately from the mobile device. The user of the separate computing device can remotely initiate operations on the mobile device from the separate computing device. For example, the user can initiate the sending of text messages through the mobile device from the separate computing device. As another example, the user can initiate the placing of a telephone call through the mobile device from the separate computing device.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

performing a synchronization operation to update a data store with communication information from a mobile device, the synchronization operation being performed wirelessly with the mobile device;

enabling a user of a separate computing device to access the communication information stored in the data store separately from the mobile device; and

enabling the user of the separate computing device to remotely initiate operations on the mobile device from the separate computing device.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the communication information that can be accessed by the user of the separate computing device includes one or more text messages sent to the mobile device.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the text message is an SMS message.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 2, wherein the text message is an MMS message that includes one or more multimedia objects.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the communication information that can be accessed by the user of the separate computing device includes one or more missed calls on the mobile device.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the communication information that can be accessed by the user of the separate computing device includes a call history of one or more calls on the mobile device.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a remote operation that the user can initiate on the mobile device from the separate computing device is a response to a text message.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein a remote operation that the user can initiate on the mobile device from the separate computing device is a placing of a call through the mobile device.

9. A method for initiating the sending of a text message through a mobile device from a separate computing device comprising the steps of:

receiving message details for a text message, the message details having been input by a user of a separate computing device, and the text message to be sent through a mobile device;

placing the text message in a server-side outbox; and

synchronizing the text message down to an outbox of the mobile device over a wireless connection of the mobile device, thereby causing the text message to be sent by the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the message details include a phone number of a target recipient of the text message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the message details further include a textual message to be sent to the phone number of the target recipient.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

storing a copy of the text message in a server-side sent items folder.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the text message is an SMS message.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the text message is an MMS message that also includes one or more multimedia objects.

15. A method for initiating remote dialing through a mobile device using a separate computing device comprising the steps of:

receiving input from a user of a separate computing device to identify a telephone number to call through a mobile device;

connecting to the mobile device and initiate a dialing process on the mobile device to place a call a third party;

maintaining a connection with the mobile device and the separate computing device simultaneously;

receiving one or more data packets from the mobile device for transmission to the separate computing device, the one or more data packets received from the mobile device containing a spoken voice of the third party; and

sending one or more data packets to the mobile device for transmission to the third party, the one or more data packets sent to the mobile device containing a spoken voice of the user of the separate computing device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:

repeating the maintaining, sending, and repeating steps until the call is terminated.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the telephone number is directly input by the user.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the telephone number is programmatically selected when the user selects a phone number from a list of one or more telephone numbers of the third party.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the dialing process is operable to be initiated by the user from the separate computing device located in a different location than the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the different location is a different country than a country in which the mobile device is physically located.